Maine Head Coach Departs to Join Gophers Under DC Joe Rossi

In an interesting development today, PJ Fleck added an assistant coach to his staff. Joe Harasymiak climbed his way through the Maine coaching ladder, as someone who wasn’t getting paid, up and into the head coaching job.

Can confirm @PeteThamel report that #Minnesota is hiring #Maine coach Joe Harasymiak for an assistant position. The job is still TBD, but I'm told Harasymiak, who led Maine to the FCS playoff semis, is close with Joe Rossi, who took over as Gophers D-coordinator late this fall.

— Adam Rittenberg (@ESPNRittenberg) December 20, 2018

He was average his first two seasons as a head coach. His team finished 6-5 and 4-6 in freshman and sophomore years respectively. He blew shit up in his third season, finishing 8-3 before losing to Eastern Washington in the FCS Semifinals.

This looks like a Joe Rossi hire. He and Harasymiak crossed paths briefly at Maine and PJ has said that Rossi is going to be in charge of what title Harasymiak holds while here. It was also Joe Rossi that spoke with the media after the hire was announced.

This is just the latest in positive signs that the Gopher Football program is moving in the right direction. Some people believed that Joe Harasymiak deserved a head coaching job at a major college this season but that clearly didn’t happen. I’m sure he believes this move will get him closer to that goal than another year at Maine would have.

That’s saying something.